Tonge, John Frederick William

Date of birth:: December 19th, 1912 (Nelsson, New Zealand)
Date of death:: February 19th, 1983 (Whakatane, New Zealand)
Service number:: 6475
Nationality:: New Zealander

Biography

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Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Captain
Unit:: No. 2 Divisional Signals, New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Awarded on:: November 15th, 1945

Citation:
"As a result of his capture in N. AFRICA on 27 Nov 41, Capt TONGE was imprisoned in ITALY and GERMANY.
During transfer to GERMANY he tried to break out of the railway truck but was caught by the sentry before the hole was completed.
From the beginning of May 44 to 22 April 45, he was in Oflag 79 (BRUNSWICK
0. The Senior British Officer of this camp praised work done by Capt. TONGE in the following terms:-
"This officer has been in charge of the construction and maintenance of my wireless receiving and transmitting equipment, constructed for the most part out of empty food tins and sundry barrack fittings, it is impossible for me to describe the ingenuity and skill with which Capt.TONGE set about his task, and provided the thing, which more than any other, has made life in prison bearable, the B.B.C. news. The Germans made very determined attempts to locate this equipment by means of intensive searches and 'stool pigeons', and I am proud to record that not only one single radio component was ever discovered in this Camp. Havinf failed to discover what they were certain existed, the Germans then started cutting off the electric power; quite undeterrred, Capt. TONGE and his accomplices applied their skill and ingenuity to the construction of a generator which did the job every bit as well as the German electric power. I cannot speak too highly of my appreciation for Capt. TONGE's work under such difficult circumstances."

Oflag 79 was liberated by the U.S. Ninth Army on 12 April 1945.